Getting Back Lost Time
by The Atomic Cafe
Summary: Aiden meets up with Mac to talk about what's been going on since she was fired.


**Getting Back Lost Time**

**By Dimgwrthien**

_Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY or affiliates._

Aiden Burn entered the coffee shop, scoping out the scene as she had been trained to do for so many years. She had to keep reminding herself that she was no longer an investigator. Too many years had put in some change in her life, forcing her to notice things she wouldn't.

Once she got over it, she tried to look through the people, doing her best not to catalogue their features to victims and killers she had seen. Aiden finally gave up on finding the man she was looking for, then sat down at one of the booths. A waitress came up to her, smiling as she held a pot of coffee. "Coffee?"

Aiden nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Anything else?"

Shaking her head, Aiden said, "Nah. I'm gonna wait."

The woman poured some, then left to take an order from the next costumer to come in. She looked around the restaurant again, not having been there in a long time. After she had gotten through half of her cup, the door opened again. Mac entered, glancing around before he caught her eye. H gave her a small smile, then crossed over to the booth, sitting opposite her.

"Hey, Mac," she said.

"Hey." The waitress was back within seconds, waiting for Mac's nod before she poured the coffee and asked if he wanted anything. Mac ordered a sandwich, as did Aiden, and the waitress left once more.

"Good to see you again," Mac told her, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Same back." She grinned at him, glad to see a familiar face from when she was in the lab. She couldn't bring herself to have any bad feelings over Mac having been the one to fire her. At least he had been nice enough to call her or see her at least once a month since then. Neither had ever mentioned the incident.

"What've you been up to?" Mac asked her.

"Jus' some cases - I already told ya about goin' for a PI license, right?"

He nodded. She didn't dare say anything else about the case she was working on. Not even being fired would stop her from tracking down Pratt, the bastard. She tried to bring her mind off the subject, hoping that her expression wouldn't betray what she was thinking about.

"What about you?" she asked, trying to move away from the topic.

"Just cases." Mac sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "They're just piling up now. I knew that New York was filled with crime, but do they all need to kill each other?"

Aiden smiled at him, almost laughing. "I hope I'm not keepin' ya -"

"No. I got off shift a little while ago. If they force me back, you're my excuse." His lips curled in a smile from a shared joke. Aiden returned the smile. Mac wasn't quite the same after work hours, but there was still that hint of a stoic personality with cynical humor that he couldn't quite get rid of. Maybe it was a real change in his personality that she had missed over the months, but Aiden couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"We're still working on the case." Mac's smile faded as he said it, and Aiden knew exactly which case he was talking about. She glanced down at the table, staring into her mug.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Mac didn't answer her, but she knew that it would be the exact same answer as he had given her every time they had spoken - "It's our job to solve cases."

"How's everyone else doin'?" Aiden asked. She hadn't seen many of them recently - just Danny about a week before.

"They're all…" Mac thought about it for a moment. "Well enough, I suppose. Danny's talked to you, right?"

Aiden nodded, and her mind drifted back to his brother. He had gone over to her place that night, almost in tears, and explained everything to her. Aiden tried to cheer him up the way she always did - cooking for him (even if she could only cook one or two things; he always liked her chicken parmesan), talking things out with him, gossiping over every person they knew (usually Flack was the forefront of that conversation). Nothing worked.

"Have you heard anythin' new on Louie?" she asked.

Mac shook his head. "Danny's mainly been keeping quiet about things. Besides, just a few days ago, Stella was attacked. Have you spoken to her?"

Aiden blinked. "Attacked? Why haven't I heard this?"

"Frankie," Mac explained. "I'd rather leave this conversation up to Stella once she's better. I'm making her take some time off." He sighed and put his head in one hand. "Sometimes I think the lab is going to ruins."

Aiden bit her lip. "How's the new girl working out?" she asked, hoping that it was a lighter subject.

"Lindsay?" Mac seemed to blank out for a moment. Aiden had spoken to him once before about Lindsay, and understood that he couldn't help but look at her like a replacement at times. She couldn't quite believe him. How could he have gotten a new investigator so quickly, unless he had been working on the paperwork beforehand? She had even looked through old records and found the blood splatter case that Mac had spoken about. It was nearly a year old. She still hadn't mentioned it to Mac.

"She's - she's a good worker," Mac said slowly, looking a bit away from Aiden. "Smart girl, gets along with everyone rather nicely. She's been a bit chatty, sometimes a bit…" He looked for a word. "Sometimes she just has to complain, but I won't blame her." At Aiden's confused look, he explained himself. "I've put her on dumpster duty and kept her at the lab when I should have taken her out on the field. I've treated her too much as a new worker than a part of the lab."

"You're a good boss, Mac." Aiden smiled at him. "If you put someone on dumpster duty, even if they don't deserve it, at least you're having _someone_ on duty. Besides, be glad the lab hasn't gone back to the level of uncivilization Danny and I kept it at with flipping coins."

Mac smiled back. "True. Though, I shouldn't be doing this to her…"

"She is the new girl. She needs to learn that N'Yawk isn't the prettiest place in the world, and the crimes aren't pretty."

"You're right, but -"

"Don't argue," Aiden told him, and felt a bit proud to have some amount of authority over him for once. "When a person is on your side, you don't argue with them."

Mac opened his mouth to answer, but his cell phone rang. Aiden motioned for him to answer it, and he opened it, saying, "Taylor."

Aiden could only hear the echo of a voice from where she sat, and guessed it was Stella. She had bumped into Stella a while before, though it hadn't been for nearly as long as she had hoped to see her. They had talked about meeting together, though Aiden still hadn't managed to call her up. She almost wanted to ask Mac to talk to Stella for her, but decided against it.

He hung up and gave her an apologizing face. "Stella needed me at the lab to help with one of the cases. I told her I was here with you."

Aiden shook her head. "No, Mac. They need you. We can meet up again."

He still looked guilty, but nodded at her. "Alright. When works for you?"

She thought about it for a moment. "How about… two weeks? Tuesday? Same time?"

"Same place," Mac finished for her, finishing his coffee and getting up. "Nice seeing you, Aiden."

She nodded at him, then gave him a one-armed hug that he awkwardly returned. "Good ta see ya, Mac. Two weeks, and call me sometime, alright?"

"Sure."

He left, the door swinging closed after him. Aiden remained with her mug of coffee as the waitress returned, refilling the mug for her. She knew that, at some point, she'd have to tell Mac about following Pratt, but she was glad that it wasn't now.

As it turned out, it would be a month from them, when neither managed to meet in those promised two weeks and he had to see what a murderer can really do to a person.


End file.
